Thread by @kurteichenwald

1. The new GOP lie about @JoeBiden, pushed by @RudyGiuliani et al. This one, which is making rounds in conservative propaganda media, is that a company got a multi-billion Iraq deal to benefit Biden's brother.

Unfortunately, few political reporters do corporate reporting...

@JoeBiden @RudyGiuliani 2...and so are already falling for it, simply because they are getting the BS from other political types who are either equally uninformed about corporate actions, or are flat out lying.

The truth: A company named Hill International got a contract in June 2011 to build...

@JoeBiden @RudyGiuliani 3...the first leg of a housing project in Iraq. It was specifically charged with providing project management and construction management. No Biden had anything to do with that deal. At all.

Now, a subsidiary of Hill International - called Hillstone Int - as part of the deal...

@JoeBiden @RudyGiuliani 4...with its parent, was given a contract in this deal to supply building structural systems. Unsurprisingly, Hill International - a public corporation trading on the New York Stock Exchange - gives the contracts for supplying material to its projects to its own subsidiary....

@JoeBiden @RudyGiuliani 5...that's the background. Here is where this gets fun.

This Iraq deal *had nothing to do with the American government.* At all. The contract with Iraq was held by TRAC Development Group, a South Korean real estate developer. TRAC then subcontracted with Hill International....

@JoeBiden @RudyGiuliani 6...which in turn did a second subcontract with its own subsidiary, which is where Biden is a director.

When did Biden become a director?At end of 2010, when TRAC already had Iraq deal. Hill Int got TRAC contract 6 months later. Biden had attended a total of 1 board meeting...

@JoeBiden @RudyGiuliani 7...of the subsidiary of the company that was already in negations with a South Koreran company that had a contract with Iraq. Biden, also, was not some guy with no basis in being involved in real estate. He first got his securities/real estate license in the 1970s. Since then...

@JoeBiden @RudyGiuliani 8...he had provided advising to a number of international financial and construction firms.

This. Is. Utter. Bullshit. Just like all the rest of them are. Reporters...PLEASE don't just take what is told you. Do the reporting, look at dates, look at deals. There cannot....

@JoeBiden @RudyGiuliani 9...be a "government conflict" when the government is not even involved. Even if you cant read SEC filings, you could have found the original press release, which tells you the structure of this agreement....ir.hillintl.com/static-files/6…

@JoeBiden @RudyGiuliani 10...finally, what happened to this "lucrative" deal. It completely fell apart in 2013. This required it to abandon a "backlog" of $1.3 bill (essentially, anticipated revenues reported in its SEC filings.) At the time, the founder of Hill International said the decision to go...

@JoeBiden @RudyGiuliani 11..into the project was his and he fought some of his directors on it. (In other words, one of a number of directors on a subsidiary of Hill International were not "driving" this deal. The parent was.) It fell apart because TRAC wasn't up to the job and Iraq was unable to make..

@JoeBiden @RudyGiuliani 12...basic decisions. So, it was a partner/government problem.

The USA never entered the equation. Biden was not there when its parent began negations with the South Korean company. He played no role whatsoever.

Another day, another BS republican conspiracy theory.